Finding the Programming Zone? 654
SlashDotDashDot asks: "As a developer for 20+ years, I've developed a fairly fine tuned way to find 'The Zone' for optimal programming - a combination of furniture arrangement (PC and chair), lighting
and music. I also have a pretty good sense of what time of day is best for working on a particular set of problems. But this is what works for me. My company is growing and I'm needing to mediate working conditions between my clients and consultants. This has me wondering what others have found important for finding 'The Zone' in their programming lives. How fast can you get there? How long does it last? What do you do that helps keep that state? What are the major interrupters?" We also touched on this issue in a similar article, last year. However, many of you may have ways of attaining "the zone" that don't depend on any of the factors listed above. If you have a method that works for you, please share. It may work for others.
Window, not windows! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Window, not windows! (Score:4, Insightful)
Bah! Screw daylight. The Zone in which good things happen (for me, at least) is one in which just about any marked input to the senses is reduced - the room is warm enough to be comfortable sitting still, no bright light to distract the eyes and ambient tunes to cover rude neighbors or people in the hall. My penchant for darker inside offices (no glass) earned me the title Caveman in at least one past position.
The key here is four walls and a door. I've heard the lame excuse that 'an open environment promotes communication' - what you end up with is being pinned like a bug under glaring lights listening to the dork in the next cube yack at his wife eternally. Sure you can communicate until you're sick of each other, but nobody can concentrate on code..
Re:Window, not windows! (Score:3, Interesting)
I spent 2 weeks trying to figure out how to keep the horrible glare from the sun off my screen. We have these pin-holed blinds that allow enough light in to burn out my eyes, and my boss doesn't like it when I stack up a bunch of boxes to block out the light... I've had to move my huge and unwielding to an ergonomically suboptimal position so I can stand to look at it during the day. People always joke that they can find me a windowless cube, and unfortunately they always think I'm joking back when I tell them that I would love it.
Re:Window, not windows! (Score:4, Funny)
Close the door (Score:2, Insightful)
Redbull, nothing but Redbull (Score:2, Funny)
Motivational Reminder (Score:5, Funny)
I look out my window at my new car and ask myself if I want to keep it. Zero to zone in approx 20 seconds.
Re:Motivational Reminder (Score:2)
I remember having to eat Ramen, and that stuff's not *even* pasta.
I need quiet (Score:5, Informative)
people will not be bothering me for a few hours.
In short, I need to work at night when my family is asleep. Too bad this conflicts with my work schedule and pisses off my wife...
Re:I need quiet (Score:2)
Quiet, Water, Sammiches (Score:3, Funny)
If I'm left alone and I'm otherwise into a coding problem, I can code for 18 hours straight with only short breaks for water and sammiches.
Oh, and definitely stay away from the soda pop and junk food. That crap kicks the shit out of any zone I may otherwise be in. Nothing worse than feeling like you actually have Coke/MountainDew syrup pumping through your veins. My brain (and yours) needs water, lots of it. Caffine also kills the mental focus I need to work on things. And also dehydrates me even more. Oh, and glare. So give me some good lighting.
Um yeah. Put me in a dry, dark cave with bread, water, and a couple of incandescent lamps. I'll code whatever you want.
Strike that. I'll code whatever *I* want
Re:I need quiet (Score:2)
That's funny, I've always found concentration to be detrimental to my programming abilities. There's a reason why so many programmers tend toward Discordianism.
Sustinence (Score:2, Funny)
Beer
Whiskey
Scotch
Cheap Beer
Beer nuts
Malt Liquor.
I guess food couldn't hurt either.
To be completely honest (Score:2, Funny)
Here's how I do it. (Score:5, Informative)
* Rather dark and gloomy room
* Big monitor at high resolution and many xterms prepared
* Huge MP3 playlist set to random
* One big cup of coffee (machine close by)
* Unlimited supply of colas in the fridge
I'm at optimal performance just when I normally should go home from work. Or when I work home, just before I really should go to bed.
Ciryon
Re:Here's how I do it. (Score:5, Funny)
127.0.0.1 slashdot.org
Re:Here's how I do it. (Score:3, Funny)
127.0.0.1 slashdot.org
This particular piece of advice is not recommended if you are an employee of OSDN working on the production Slashdot machines.
Re:Here's how I do it. (Score:5, Interesting)
How long does this last? This often depends on a few things also:
When am in The Zone, it is a curse. I can't think of anything else but what I'm hacking on. (This is a problem when I am hacking on a personal project and go to work.) I usually just have to ride it out, keep hacking, until something happens that I put the project aside for a while, and then I usually repeat the whole process again in the future some time.
So that's how it works for me. :)
Jason.
Re:Here's how I do it. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Comforts of home (Score:2)
Environment doesn't matter (Score:2, Insightful)
Just like great athletes, conditions don't matter. They get in the zone and it's game over. Anyone see Steve Yzerman in the Red Wings v Canucks game last night? He's hobbling around on one leg making everyone else look like grade schoolers. Amazing
Re:Environment doesn't matter (Score:2, Insightful)
It's all about the chair.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Next to that is a good mouse (if you're doing any GUI work or Graphics with the program) and Keyboard that has that great feel. It's different for everyone, I like my keyboards to click where I can feel I've hit a key. I find I have less typos that way.
And finally, ample supply of drinks and snacks readily available within an arms reach, otherwise I'm forced to break my concentration to get up and to refill my drink or snack. Some good music helps too, with headphones if you aren't alone, it helps you tune out the rest of the world around you.
No distractions (Score:4, Interesting)
Probably my biggest issue is with noise. It could be my farely ADD-type tendencies, but almost any noise beyond what is found in a normal office environment makes it really hard for me to work. Music may be great for the mood, but I just can't work unless the music is classical or something else really light. Also, if I have an office near a window, it could be a problem if the the windows aren't soundproofed enough and I have to listen to the conversations all the smokers have on their breaks.
Re:No distractions (Score:2)
You know, it's the same for me too. I think of myself has having borderline ADD tendencies, but perhaps what it is a hightened sensitivity to stimulation. On the other hand, once I've "bitten into" a problem, I can go for prodigious amounts of time on it, in my younger (and unattached) days sometimes days without rest. I've often wondered whether these two things, sensitivity to stimulation and the ability to enter a kind of programming trance state were interrelated.
Re:No distractions (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No distractions (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah they are a distraction, but sometimes that's just what you need in order to get out of a rut and back in the zone. When I've been beating my head on a problem for a while, the best thing is often to stop, turn off the monitor, and go for a 5-10 minute stroll outside. The first half of the walk I don't think about anything. After the halfway point, I start thinking about the problem and I've usually got a good guess on how to solve the problem by the time I get back in the office.
When I was in college, I used to do the same thing using the pool tables in the dorms. First game clear your head, second game solve the problem. Maybe it's just me, but I'm usually in best form after a break physically away from work.
The kinds of things which bother me are interruptions, not being able to play my music sans headphones, sharing an office with someone, loud servers/noise, and bad flourescent lighting. The worst for me though, is sitting near a high traffic area where people are constantly talking outside your door or moving by the periphery of your vision.
Re:No distractions (Score:5, Funny)
Smoker 1: So, we started smoking to be cool and popular, but now all our clothes stink, our lungs are charred and black, and we're the only two dipshits standing out here feeding our addictions while everyone else is inside.
Smoker 2: Yep.
Smoker 1: (takes a puff) Is this what you expected?
Smoker 2: (takes a puff) Nope.
My work environment (Score:2)
Shoe-box full of Butterfingers, Snickers, and beef jerky
Enya playing in the background.
Re:My work environment (Score:2)
In fact, we've got a guy who, just like you, stocks his area with goodies in an attempt to produce more. He bangs away at his keyboard from 9 to 5, then finds himself here on the weekends when his spaghetti code turns out to be undercooked.
Don't do what Donnie Don't does.
Re:My work environment (Score:2)
different things... odd things (Score:3, Interesting)
Music wise... it has to be something that doesn't require active listening, but it can't be boring either. Classical and opera tend to work very well as good background music. If it's a game I'm coding, I'll usually put on the soundtrack to a game, as I find that gets me thinking about games, which helps me to make the game.
Finally, the chair is something I don't have a preference for. As long as I can sit it, and don't find myself fidgiting too much, it's good enough.
Crystal Meth (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Crystal Meth (Score:3, Insightful)
Crystal MethOD
=)
Re:Crystal Meth (Score:4, Interesting)
Good stuff really, although we should be thankful it's illegal or we'd all have 25 hour days all the time
Recipe (Score:2)
What are the major interrupters? (Score:5, Funny)
Hello??
You just asked the major interrupter!!!!
My zone... (Score:2)
The best answer to my zone problem would be to have a door that I could shut when I'm working on something that requires intense focus, and open when I feel like I can handle a question (think of the door as a literal interrupt mask). Sadly, I don't have a door; I live in cubeland. I'm senior enough to rate a door, but there aren't enough doors to go around.
As for the lesser important elements to establishing the zone, I like a comfortable chair, a decent set of speakers or headphones, and a carpeted floor so I can take my shoes off. I hate shoes and kick mine off as the first step to getting to work. I'd go barefoot if I could.
I like to keep the lighting low, and my preference is to work with the lights off, with only natural light through my window and my pair of flat-panel monitors to light the room. Again, because I live in cubeland, it's hard to work with the lights off; even getting to work at 6 AM doesn't help because some of my lights-on coworkers also arrive early and don't understand why I want to work in the dark (these coworkers include one fellow who analyses code by printing it out and coloring the paper with many different colors of highlighter).
--Jim
My zone... (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously. I get most of my work done after everybody leaves...nobody shooting the sh_t or asking me questions or for status reports. There's an emotion around here that open floors equate productivity, but that's just not true...I get more done the hour after the boss walks out than I do in an entire day of his polling and sneaking.
Speaking of which, this post is cutting into that time...gonna make it short.
Recipe for success... (Score:2)
I'm not saying that this is a steadfast rule, I'm just saying that perhaps allowing different workday shifts like 9-5 and 3-11 would be good. You'd have two hours of overlap for collaberation, and people who fear mornings would be more apt to be in the zone in their "primetime."
EXTREME PROGRAMMING! (Score:5, Interesting)
Pair programming, a subset of extreme programming, largely eliminates this problem for me. When I pair up with another developer, I can regularly find the zone each day and stay in it for 4-6 hours. As a project manager, I introduced extreme programming and my team quadrupled their output overnight. And this is with six of us sitting in a garage with cheap office furnature.
Re:EXTREME PROGRAMMING! (Score:2, Insightful)
Right. I think what you are saying is that when you stopped whipping them in your garage and gave them some actual human contact, they were a little happier huh? Maybe you learned a lesson that treating programmers like human beings pays off in the end.
A good office environment meets the needs of the workers. Good social contact, this is why nerf toys are popular. Some time to relax, play games, free perks like soda don't hurt either. If you make it fun, you can expect a lot. Quadrupal is nothing. Next try fixing your furniture.
EXTREME PROGRAMMING! YEAH! (Score:2)
And it's already well advertised here. I think anyone who's been programming for 20 years has probably heard about it - here if nowhere else.
For me, "finding the zone"=="taking the phone off the hook". But unfortunately that's a super extreme way of losing my job.
.
Personally speaking... (Score:2)
Quiet! (Score:2)
What I want to know is: Those $300 Bose noise cancelling headsets - Can you use them without piping a signal into them to get pure and clean quiet? Or are there any other alternatives other than those massive earmuffs that construction workers wear?
Re:Quiet! (Score:3, Interesting)
Absolutely, I used to have a pair of those $100 Sony Noise Cancelling headphones (before I stopped travelling 38 weeks a year, and after my dad stole them from me) that I would wear without a cd-player sometimes just for the noise cancelling. They could turn a 737-500 with a screaming kid next to me into a very quiet relaxing environment that I could read without distraction in.
The Bose headsets look REALLY nice, and I'm thinking about gettting a set, but I work from home now, and am alone listening to techno or a dvd, which is the optimal work environment if you ask me.Re:Quiet! (Score:2, Informative)
Theres a switch to turn the cancleing on/off.
One time, I had them on (with no music) and a stardess walkup to me and asked a question directly towards me
Finding the zone (Score:2)
(2) Avoid interruptions. No beeper, no cell phone, nobody dropping by to chat. Get away from the internet if you can. A laptop is good for this. I move to the local coffee emporium to get started, then when my laptop is discharged and I'm fully charged with caffeine, I move to the public library's quiet study area, where i can plug in power. When the library closes I move to a loft over my garage. It's a short trip between each one and it gives just enough of a break. Since I've had children, the days of multi-day hacking sessions are gone though; I pretty much have to take some time in the early evening with them, then after they're in bed it's back to the old ball and chain.
That's pretty much all I need: rest and privacy. There is one third aspect that is helpful to me, although maybe not to everyonhe.
(3) Customer contact. Not during the programming debauch, of course, but before hand, to clarify exactly what I want to achieve, and put a human face on the problem. Of course, if you hate your customers, its better to avoid this
Leave Me Alone!!!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
* set up an irc server or get everyone on IM. If you have a question, IM it to somebody instead of interrupting them with a phone call or personal visit. If they are in the zone, they can wait until their train of thought winds down to answer.
* Catered, delivered meals are a diabolical way to squeeze more zone time out of your employees. Nothing is better for me (and the company) when somebody brings in a bag of burritos when I'm in the zone. Delivered dinner is the best way to explioit me for more unpaid work.
* Good CM and documentation limit the amount of interruptions because people can consult the docs instead of, "Ask Bob, he's the only guy who knows how that works."
* Let me work funky hours. We've got one guy who gets here at 7:30 AM, another who shows up at noon and stays till 10:00 PM. Why? Because there are large chunks of time where nobody is around to interrupt them. This can wreak havoc at your company if you don't do the above documentation, but it can work out very well if you do.
Yeah, private offices, screen real-estate and Aeron chairs are cool, but I'd throw them all away for a full day without interruptions.
I used to have a zone (Score:2, Insightful)
Heck in one place I spent a week working in a hallway and if it wasn't for my trusty laptop I would have been twiddling my thumbs. Other than that I do my most productive work off site at home where there are less meetings and other such interuptions.
The Father of Distraction: Websurfing (Score:5, Insightful)
It's even worse if you do web programming for a living. There is no hope.
Re:The Father of Distraction: Websurfing (Score:2)
I've found that if I use a different browser, like Opera, just as long as it doesn't have those buttons, everything is fine.
Re:The Father of Distraction: Websurfing (Score:2)
Re:I know what you mean. (Score:2, Funny)
lava lamp (Score:2)
music (Score:2)
It seems that the best kind of music for programming is something without any lyrics, because they tend to draw you attention from the problem. My personal choice is electronic music - techno, drum&bass,
Depends on what you're doing (Score:5, Insightful)
But for design work, I find I do my best stuff in a completely different environment.
First of all, get away from your computer. If you're doing design, you should be envisioning shapes, graphs, and so on--you should not be thinking about code. Do not look at; do not touch it. Look at a whiteboard or stare at the sky while you're doing this.
Next, do something (other than caffeiene) to stimulate your metabolism. Play a few games of foosball, or take a shower, or have a cigar. I've done some of my best design work while standing in the shower.
Finally, let your subconscious work on it. Keep thinking about the problem as you go about your day, but don't stress out about not making any progress. A day or two into it, you'll have an epiphany and realize that it's all very simple.
Re:Depends on what you're doing (Score:2)
I couldn't agree with that any more. I can't count the number of times that I've gotten so fed up with a little bug in some abstract function and not 3 minutes after walking away to do something else (usually coffee-related) the answer just jumps out and it was so simple! It almost makes me want to not go back to the computer, unfortunately that's where the problems start, and we get to the next topic I wanted to cover: prime coding hours:
Yeah, I do some of my most productive work between the hours of 12:00AM and 3:00AM on a Sunday night, but that's usually due to the fact that an assignment is due the next morning (since I'm still apparently "learning" this stuff). However, the only reason that this is happening is because I wasted the weekend with other pursuits.
Finally, music is everything. I personally like to start off with whatever's been going through my head for the last week, but by the time some serious coding comes up, it's time to kick on the Hard House radio streams, and get something with a lot of mindless bass going. Personally, I think I do better coding then, but that's just an opinion.
The state of mind matters, not the environment (Score:2, Interesting)
In bug fixing state, I can multitask efficiently between multiple small size tasks, do them together, answer a question in a middle, etc.
In development state, I am really concentrated, and if someone asks something, it is very difficult to concentrate a sudden support question, and if interrupted, it takes time to get really back into development state.
If the development state is difficult to reach, I need music. Something heavy, Metallica seems to work best.
It's all in your head (Score:2)
"The zone" is in your head. For me what brings me there is usually motivation of some kind. It can be money (as in salary), but it usually isn't. Most of the time I'm just excited to see how it's going to turn out when I'm done; once I'm in the zone and start coding, I'm not going to stop until I can see some sort of tangible result.
When I'm having problems reaching the zone it's usually because that tangible result is too far away in time. What really causes problems is if a part of a project is so big it's going to take two days of coding before I'll produce anything useful; I try to avoid those.
Lack of distraction (Score:2)
Things that make getting in the zone easy:
Tools that make sense and are powerful.
A keyboard that is intuitive.
Easy to use programmer's reference.
Stable OS that doesn't crash all the time taking yer whole programming setup down with it
Retirement (Score:3, Insightful)
Even after ten yeas of marriage my wife still doesn't "get it" that each interruption costs me at least 20 minutes to get back into the groove. Thank god the programming I do for a living isn't really complicated.
I find my ideal times for working are from 10am-noon and 5PM to 1AM. Not particularly good when you have a family.
Da zone... (Score:2, Interesting)
* a source of music just loud enough to block out office noise, but not loud enough to make me notice it. (If it's music I really *like*, I'm in trouble, since I'll pay attention to the music.)
* A phone with a ringer that I'm able (and allowed) to shut off and/or let calls go straight to voice mail.
* an email client that I'm allowed to configure to not notify me of arriving emails
* a cubicle out of the way of major foot traffic
* orientation in the cubicle so that I don't feel that people are looking over my shoulder (I don't care if i can see them coming -- what i hate is the feeling that i'm being "vultured" -- a sure fire productivity killer for me).
* the ability to get up, walk around, and think through things. given a 5-minute walkaround (not, mind you, an excuse to visit my neighbors), i can begin to get in the zone before I start coding / debugging / whatever.
phone and email are the worst -- especially when they're combined with a mandatory response time standard set by the company.
Help! (Score:2)
It doesn't help that Whoop-Ass, which is the only energy drink I've found that really works for me without tasting like, well, ass at the same time is apparently no longer sold in California. (Neither is any other Jones Soda product AFAIK.) I think I'm going to have to import my own supply.
Distractions certainly don't help. /. is among the worst. :/
My Two Cents: (Score:2)
I'm most in the zone when a lot of time is spent defining a good spec up front, and having good management that doesn't allow the client to break it with constant changes after coding has already begun. Then I can just bear down and WORK and turn out a clean, easily-maintainable piece of software, as well. Otherwise, it's spaghetti crap code that is hell to write, maintain, and debug.
On the creature comfort side of things, a nicely-equipped computer is nice. It doesn't have to be a dual-SCSI, dual-CPU monster, but a 512MB of RAM and a nice monitor go a long way. With cheap RAM and monitors these days, this shouldn't be a problem... only another $200 or so over a barebones setup. Also, make sure the vid card and the monitor can both work together at high resolutions and refresh rates, please! Some offices "splurge" and buy cheap 19" monitors, but workers are still stuck at 1024x768 at 60hz or some shit.
Being able to wear headphones to block out office noise is a must, too. That sounds like a silly demand, but I once worked at a place where headphones were verboten!
nice topic (Score:3, Interesting)
- Dont laugh - I got the music midi files from descent 1 (the game) and have been coding to that - brings back memories from when programming wasnt work
- Comfy chair!
- 19" or greater monitor!
- Code when you want/need!
- Code at Home!
- Take your fav keyboard & mouse along with your laptop
- When you get an idea, GO AFK, once the idea gets some time to ripen you'll be all charged to tackle it
But most of all make whatever you program a positive experience for your users. There's nothing like a "wow dude well done" from a happy user.Comfort zone (Score:2, Insightful)
An office with lots of linear desk space to each side with a printer nearby (which supports the HP small lineprinter font) and highlighters (when I refactor, I usually take the listing to another room and start marking). A nearby caffeine supply, usually a large cup of coffee, or something else so I don't have to feel thirsty. A way to silence my phone or otherwise insure only critical calls get through. Basically freedom from external or internal distractions.
A large, LCD screen. Something like the Apple 22" Cinema is optimal, but a large CRT with subdued lighting is also OK. I want to see several pages of information onscreen. Overlapped or iconified windows don't count. Otherwise subdued lighting, full spectrum, and/or task lighting. Especially with CRTs - they tend to bloom and blur at higher brightness. A comfortable chair - this might be a posture chair or stool. The idea here is to prevent fatigue, generally, and from having to fiddle with the UI to view what I need to.
A reasonably fast computer. My train of thought derails if I break too often. The toolset I use is fast at grepping or otherwise searching and editing and recompiling. When I finish with a set of changes I should be able to keep focus.
Flexible time. Some people are morning people, others are afternoon people. I am a night person. This is good in that I can work productively until 4am if needed, and in fact I can't sleep much earlier if I keep thinking of solutions or things I want to try. Often I can keep going until I finish something then realize how tired I am and realize that the eastern horizon is rather bright. But if it is too early, I can't get started. I can find 60 ultraproductive hours per week, and sustain that, but few of them occur between 9 and 5.
the anti-zone (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm getting it under control, but sometimes there's just this huge inertia you have to overcome. But luckily that's intertia in both the difficult-to-start form AND the easy-to-keep-going senses of the term.
... weed. (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
My own list.. (Score:2, Insightful)
I should point out that if you're using winamp, you really need to get one of those hotkey plugins so that your windows-c is mapped to pause and windows-b is mapped to skip ahead. Otherwise, you'll spend too much time when skipping the slow tunes, and it'll knock you outta the zone. (Besides being helpful in skipping songs, it'll also help if you're too deep into the zone, and really need to think about something.)
Last thing I'll mention; water. Make sure you have water nearby, and you're drinking it. Besides it being healthy for you, keeping you dehydrated, and keeping you from drinking caffiene, (which despite what most people'll tell you, will actually drain you of energy and shorten your zonage) it'll also force you to take regular breaks (to use the washroom) that won't affect your zoneage! (I have discovered that this is perhaps one of the few ways to force oneself to take regular breaks that doesn't continuously break my zoneage. As amusing and silly as it may sound, I highly recommend it. : )
So anyways, to summarize, my tips:
- good high-quality headphones
- up-beat music (not too up beat, though; avoid raver stuff that messes with your aural depth perception; it'll just distract you..)
- good winamp plugin for hotkeys
- water!
Oh yeah.. and I find that being in a bad posture helps too. But I'm not gonna recommend that to anyone; I'm already experiencing the negative effects of that one, so..
Entering "Zone" (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a fairly easy system for achieving this.
1.) I get up every morning at 5:00am and run 3-5 miles,
2.) Shower (very important step, do not omit.)
3.) Eat a good breafast (generally a piece of fresh fruit and some "healthy" cereal.)
4.) Eat a healthy lunch.
5.) Get out of the office during lunch, for a mental break.
I avoid artificial stimulants at all costs.
I find that I generally have much more productive time than the other people in my team, and don't spend 10 minutes on the hour servicing a coffee habit. My mind is clear all day. I don't suffer from the afternoon slowdown.
Granted, I do fall asleep fairly early in the evening (around 10:00pm) but I provide more work to my employer, on a time schedule that is convenient to him.
Think about that when the next round of layoffs begin.
Re:Entering "Zone" (Score:5, Funny)
use IM not phone (Score:4, Informative)
And stack your meetings on particular days if at all possible. This is often difficult since in many office cultures the managers proclaim meeting times and the workers learn to live with them. But if you have a choice then try to put all the distractions on the same days.
And for all you managers out there don't schedule a meeting that ends close to the end of the day. If the meeting ends at 4 and most people leave at 5 chances are your workers are doing only two things between 4 and 5: jack and shit.
Look a little further, guys. (Score:5, Insightful)
There are far too many IT employees, especially programmers, who are under the misconception that they are something special. There are many industries and jobs that involve enourmous levels of creativity and innovation, however I can't think of many that contain so many whining graduates.
Take teaching for example. Every day, a teacher is required to educate their students. They don't get the option of saying "I can't find my zone, I'll be back in a few hours". The don't have the option of rearranging their working environment to suit themselves (as opposed to suiting their students/team). Sure, you can point out that teachers are generally following a process that is predefined... so are programmers though.
Looking back within the IT community, take a look at the higher level support engineers. When a server farm catches fire, triggers the sprinklers, and dies a gurgling death, do you really think it would be appropriate for any of them to say "the room just doesn't _feel_ right"? Nope - they have to get the job done.
Programming, for the most part, is a case of following the yellow brick road. The road is paved by your team leaders, in most cases, and when it isn't there is very little stopping programmers from following the processes and methodologies they claim make them special ("I have a DEGREE!").
And what about childcare workers? Have you ever considered what it would be like working in an environment totally designed in favour of creatures half your size? I happen to know one or two of these people, and let me tell you that they never bitch or moan about their working environment not being ideal for their "thought process"!
Face it - we're nothing special. We carry out a job, and not a very hard one at that. Sure, once in a while we need to demonstrate flashes of brilliance, but based on the ones I know, the vast majority of IT workers probably shouldn't have jobs in the first place.
Be grateful you have the opportunity to work in a field that pays well, offers good working environments, decent job security (those who lie to themselves, and believe that we are any less secure than the rest of the world are fools), and cool toys to play with. Personally, I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work within the field.
(Incidently, I sit in a cubicle that is rather small, at a desk that isn't particularly comfortable, with a window behind me that casts glare all over my screen, in an open plan office. I can hear my team chatting with their wives, the aircon is unpredictable, and the lighting annoys me. But I get to work in a field I love. Personally, I think I'm winning here)
Re:Look a little further, guys. (Score:3, Insightful)
And any programmer who thinks that a Programming Methodology that was handed down from On High (defined as either somebody with an MBA or a PhD) is good for all things, is in the wrong line of work. It's a craft, not a skill.
Herbal remedies help (Score:3, Interesting)
to try a few. Ginkgo, in particular, is popular for increasing mental focus and memory; Ginseng too
has a simular but more subtle effect. Wow! what a difference they have made, I'm now able to concentrate
on a problem without losing focus for much longer, and my overall mood has improved. Seriously,
give them a try; at worst they don't work, there haven't been any side effects associated with either.
Re:An article on this matter (Score:2)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:5, Funny)
You're a VB "programmer," I presume?
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:4, Insightful)
Writing code is very much like writing a novel. One day it's flowing out of you. Then on another day, it just stops. And there's no way you can easily tap it back 'ON'.
It's not about 'formal methods'. With all your bag of formal method tricks, if you can't visualize (in some personal way) problem you're facing, then you can't apply anything to it. Nothing, nada.
This is why CAP will never really take off. You need to really understand what is going on, and what one should do. Computer just can't do it.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Every time you use a compiler, you're already half way to the side of formal methods -- letting the computer analyze and make assumptions about your code, in exchange for not having to write assembly routines yourself every time. Similarly, if you work in a strongly-typed language like C, C++, or Java, you're relying on a very "formal" means of error-correction: type checking.
That doesn't change the fact that programming is a creative process, simply because the concepts being thrown around by a "formal methods" user are more functional. Personally, I think that good math is every bit as aesthetically pleasing and creative as a great novel, and have personally met a number of quite talented mathematicians who were among the most creative, individualistic people I know.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2, Troll)
Let's stretch this a little farther, shall we? Which is harder, being a surgeon or a programmer? I'd put $5,000 down on that one, right now. But somehow, the surgeons end up motivating themselves to go to work and do their job whenever it's required, not just when they "can get into the mindstate".
When working with other people, professionals find a way to just do it.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Whether you're right or wrong, your analogy isn't the least bit apt. Most programmers work on software that's customized for a particular client, or a small number of clients in a specific field. Do any novel-writers write customized novels for 3 or 4 clients? The surgeon analogy doesn't even begin to make sense. Unlike surgery, do people really need life-and-death software support? 99.9% of the time, no. In the fields where software IS a life-and-death matter (air traffic control, nuclear power plants) you can bet the software companies have engineers on call at all times much like doctors.
Also, it's not a matter of programmers "just doing it". The question is not, "should my programmers have to work if they don't feel like it?" The question is: "how can I place my programmers in an environment where they'll be the most productive?"
If you even think about the question asked in the story, you'll realize it's about squeezing more productivity out of programmers by creating a favorable environment for them.
Your response is pretty sick. I'm sensing some built-up hostility there. It's true, there's a lot of whiny, overpaid, pampered programmers in the world, but that's not what this person is seeking to create.
I believe it's possible to create a comfortable work environment for programmers and still demand maximum productivity and deadline adherence...
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:5, Insightful)
Being a surgeon is like being a very talented mechanic, with an excellent memory and fine motor skills. Additionally, the rigors of internship filter out those not qualified or capable. The creative muse has little place in a field where a few fractions of a mm slip in the right place can kill someone. A surgeon can get by with zero creativity other than adapting to "normal variation" in anatomy and being able to recall what procedures to apply, and still function very, very well.
OTOH, programming covers a wide breath of skills and abilities. Programming batch file processing scripts requires little creativity. Designing realtime attitude control systems requires grasp of many mechanical, electronic, control-theory, and scientifc fields beyond programming, and creativity to figure out how to acheive your goals. Bleeding edge 3d game engines require obscene amounts of creative design skills encompassing and correlating traditional CS, as well as physics, lighting, perceptual psychology, game theory, and much, much more.
A sr. programmer with a design responsibility on a bleeding edge project with 'creative block' can be unable to do their job "well", even if a "professional". Sure, you can sit down and hack something out anyway, and I've seen the results of that. Unfortunately, many companies can get away with crap code, and I guess yours is one of them...
Creativity results in elegant programming. Those who claim otherwise, likely do not write elegant code...
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Interesting)
The discussion is what makes you more efficient, not if you can or cannot complete the task. We all know that non completion results in bad things, this is about doing it faster and/or better.
Coding isnt like a novel, but in a way coming up with a plan for coding is. This approach (your word) is the hard part, coding is just dry implementation.
"The Zone", be it based on enviroment, or whatever gets you going, is a necessary component in effective coding.
Essentially formulating the solution in your mind is coming up with the theme and plot of a novel, and implementing is like scratching it to paper. Though not equally demanding of non-interrupted time, both do require that special something to be done right.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2, Interesting)
Yep, generally.
if you tell your boss that you can't work right now because it just isn't coming to you, you're out of a job.
So I take it you love solving known problems with 60hz florescent lighting flickering in your eyes while your cube mate pounds out high-decibel "Cirque du Soleiel" music and your folding chair stabs you in the back? Are you sure you aren't a robot?
Programming is a mental activity. It is thus appropriate to make all distractions disappear for the thinking individual. For some, special music (ambient!), good furniture, and good lighting are essential.
And to hell with a window. Hands up everyone sitting in a beautiful office with cardboard taped to the monitor and large objects sitting in the window to avoid being blinded at 3pm sharp.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:2)
Your chair stabs you in the back? Wow. Around here, it's usually my cow-orkers that try that. Never worried about my chair before. Looks like I'm gonna have a sleepless night, or three.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Insightful)
Strangely enough, I'm also usually much happier working on a full-size laptop (often actually in my lap, no less!) than a desktop machine; something about the ability to shift posture regularly, and have the computer move with me, does me more good than any number of ergonomic keyboards and back-supporting-chairs.
You read hardy boys, don't you? (Score:2)
This is fine if you want a formulaic novel.
There are set ways to doing matematics...
but that dosen't mean that creativity is never involved in mathematics when developing a new solution or heuristic and creativity is not nessicarily reliable.
Dude, you have to define the problem properly. (Score:2)
Since I program in Smalltalk and write code generators for other languages (or even for Smaltalk,) you're obviously talking about a lower level of productivity that I have progressed far beyond.
God, it must suck to be you.
Re:Excuse me? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hahah, you aren't a programmer are you? Probably are a poorly paid manager.
Truth is, I have yet to find ANYONE (thank God) in a position of any managerial importance that agrees with you. Everyone I've ever known recognizes that there are days that a programmer just can't crank out code, and there are days that in a single day he'll crank out 4 days worth of "slow days."
Programming isn't an exact science. It DOES require being in "the zone."
When you're in the zone the code will just flow and it'll normally be much better code. A programmer who isn't in the zone but feels "forced" by management (or, more often, by himself) to crank out code will produce poor code, will have low morale, will probably tend to take a long lunch break and probably frequent "cigarette breaks," and probably leave right at 4:30pm. Basically an unproductive day whose output is of little value.
On the other hand, a programmer that is in the zone may easily forget about lunch or eat his lunch in 5 minutes at his desk while he codes. He might remember to go to the bathroom. And it is doubtful he'll leave before 5pm. And the code he produces will be some of his best.
When I'm not in the zone, I tend to do non-programming work. Returning calls, writing up documentation, meeting with those that may have been wanting a meeting for some time. There's no reason to waste time on programming when you're not in the zone.
If you really think it's as simple as "pay the programer and he'll produce 500 quality lines of code a day, every day" you're sadly mistaken. While you can't have a non-productive programmer and being "out of the zone" isn't an excuse to avoid working, it is equally unreasonable to expect programmers to be 100% productive every day. Aint gonna happen. Some days they'll be at 50% and other days at 150%. Every manager I've worked with or for knows that and accepts it.
I suspect those that don't know or accept it are hiring code monkeys in a sweat-shop environment. I've never worked in those environments, though, so I wouldn't know.
Creativity, Productivity, Drugs, and Clock Signals (Score:3, Insightful)
Okay, now there are lots of ways you could go about this. First there's brute force, there may be a simple way to do it, but it's not ideal because it's O(N^2), okay well there are several routes you could take. First, you could run with it, second you could think about it, possibly for days, while you may be reading the morning papers, your subconscious mind is churning through multitudes of different solutions, working on what would generally be considered intractible topography problems in th' background using the massively paralell computer known as the human brain. When you finish with that stage, and you're ready to implement, then's when the groove hits.
What i'm talking about is when there is a hairy multifaceted problem, and after goofing off playing tradewars for a couple days, you finally latch onto a solid solution. What looked like a massive unmanagable mass of special cases and state variables condenses into a simple but subtle loop invariant and you go for the gold. Pop a couple of ephedrine, drink some coffee, eat a bunch of solid high calorie food, put on some good driving music, something with a solid steady beat that you can use for a clock signal to push the data through your brain, and let fly. It's one of those things where you have solved the problem on a subconscious level, and you can see all the facets and details as it if were a building in front of you, except instead of a building, it's a nice regular 5 dimensional shape, but it's there, and for that moment in time you see it clearly, and as fast as you can code and comment, it can be translated back into our mortal plane, it can change from a shimmering but abstract represenation of a problem into a concrete solution. That's where it's at. =:-)
I sort of agree... (Score:2)
"The zone" isn't artificial, but it may come more naturally to some than others. Consider yourself lucky.